Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s (redacted) report released last week lays out in stunning detail Russia’s sophisticated covert influence campaign to ensnare the Trump campaign, our election processes, and the American people. These findings have far-reaching national security implications. Here are the five biggest national security takeaways from the report:

1. Russian intelligence circled the Trump campaign and eventual administration like sharks looking for access and information. Moscow recruited Carter Page, one of Trump’s eventual foreign policy advisers, as an intelligence asset as early as 2013 (pg. 97). The report details many other links between members of the Trump campaign and Russian officials or Russian businessmen acting on behalf of Putin or intelligence services (pg. 7). These links often led to email exchanges or even in-person meetings that Russia used to try to recruit those with access to Trump as assets or informants, including between Erik Prince and a Russian businessman in the Seychelles (pg. 148). …

Taking Action: Things You Can Do *Right Now* to Help Fix the Country

When every day seems to be worse than the last, it can be hard to know what to do. When you do try to help, it can feel a little like bringing a pale of water to a forest fire. But ignoring our problems as a country will not make them go away and if you are waiting for someone to tell you what to do, respectfully — you may already be behind.

For some of the things you see on this list, you may wonder how it will help change the political course of our country. People do not like to hear that our problems are complicated, but the fact is, they are. It is important to realize there are no quick fixes and no one thing on its own that will solve every single problem. The kind of change that led to this current administration took generations of things like: anger, poor government policy that favors the 1 percent of the working class, the marginalization of minority communities, the rise of powerful lobbyists that have co-opted the political process, the decline of civic engagement as a virtue, and institutionalized misogyny. …

By. Cindy Otis

As a CIA officer, I spent most of my time on “crisis” accounts and working on task forces where the hours were long and the stress high. Later in my career, I managed a large branch of analysts in the Directorate of Intelligence, the part of the CIA tasked with combing through multiple streams of intelligence to provide senior U.S. government officials with assessments on fast-moving events.My employees looked at political, security, economic, and leadership issues affecting one of our country’s top national security priorities. They were tasked with keeping policymakers updated and informed, and with laying out opportunities for policymakers. The subject matter was often negative and included disturbing content. …